ROHNERT PARK, CALIF - Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park held off Benicia in the North Coast Section Division 3 Semifinals 40-28.
Rasheed Rankin scored his fourth touchdown of the ballgame on a 37 yard run with just over two minutes left, and Mihalis Santorineos picked up a fumble with 44 seconds left to seal the Rancho Cotate win.
“This is the sixth year in a row we’ve been in a semi final game, and I’m so proud of our kids that we finally broke through,” said Rancho Cotate head coach Gehrig Hotaling. “They showed a lot of heart and determination. Much like our season it hasn’t been pretty, so we just scratch and clawed to a win.
Before all of that, Rancho Cotate faced a 3rd and 20. QB Jared Stocker scrambled his way to a first down. Facing another 3rd and long, he was sacked, but a helmet to helmet penalty called by the head official kept the Rancho Cotate drive alive, and upset the north end of the stadium.
“I was getting tackled, and one of their defenders was trying to finish the tackle and that’s what caused the helmet to helmet,” said Stocker
Rankin began the scoring festivities with a 13 yard touchdown run. Rancho ran the ball through Rankin with methodical short gains before using up over half of the clock in the opening quarter. Cougars took a 6-0 lead.
An interception by Tai Paleti set Rancho Cotate up beautifully as the quarter ended. Right as the second quarter began, Rankin powered in another touchdown from three yards out, and QB Jared Stocker connected with Brandon Proschold for the two-point PAT to go up 14-0.
Benicia’s Kameron Lane took the ensuing kickoff 54 yards to give them good field position. After a few more plays, he’d sneak it in himself to get them on the board, but they still trailed 14-6.
Paleti came up with his second interception in as many possessions, which set up Stocker’s eight yard touchdown pass to Dimitri Johnson to extend the Cougar lead back to 21-6.
Jack Reese came up with an interception, the third straight the Cougar defense had one, but multiple penalties pushed the Rancho offense back and forced a punt. With just four seconds left in the first hald, Lane found Daryius McNorton for an 81 yard touchdown. A two point conversion from Maurian Burrell cut the deficit to 21-14 as the intermission came.
After Rancho Cotate stopped Benicia’s good drive out of the half Stocker found Reese for 26 yards, and then 20 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-14 Cougars.
Burrell took a screen pass from Lane 44 yards out to turn it into a touchdown which cut the deficit back to seven as we went into the final stanza.
Just over a minute into it, Rankin rumbled for touchdown number three, a 15 yard run to open it back to 34-20.
“He’s (Rankin) unbelievable. I love that kid. He’s a workhouse. When it’s his time to shine he steps up,” commented Hotaling.
Benicia got the ball with just over seven minutes to play, and made it count as Lane threw deep to Jaxson Bates for a 62 yard touchdown pass, and got the two point conversion on another run from Burrell and all of a sudden it was 34-27.
“Benicia’s a hell of a team. They’re well coached and have a lot of good athletes. If you’re this deep in the playoffs, you won’t give up, and they didn’t,” Hotaling said.
Rancho Cotate moves on to play Las Lomas in the NCS Division 3 Championship game at Acalanes High School next Friday.
Benicia’s season ends with a record of 10-2.
